Best in Energy – 30 January 2023

India requests coal-fired generators stay in service

India plans to order maximum coal-fired generation

Jet fuel prices surge on post-pandemic consumption

Asia’s seaborne coal prices slip on plentiful supplies

Russia/Ukraine: which side does time favour? ($WSJ)

BP publishes revised energy outlook through 2050

EU gas price cap sparks plan to shift TTF to London

Israel/Iran drone attack ($WSJ)

EUROPE’s gas futures summer-winter calendar spread for July 2023 to January 2024 has slumped into an increasingly wide contango as traders anticipate a record carryover over inventories from winter 2022/23 which will leave the storage system short on space.  Lower gas prices in summer 2023 will encourage more consumption by power generators and major industrial users. Higher prices may still be needed to restrain consumption during the peak of next winter:

U.S. OIL DRILLING has started to slow in response to the fall in prices since the middle of 2022. The number of rigs drilling for oil was just 609 on January 27 down from a cyclical high of 627 on December 2:

Best in Energy – 4 January 2023

Duke’s insufficient generation during storm ($BBG)¹

China issues more export quotas for fuels

Japan gas suppliers seek overseas resources

India to compensate coal-fired generators

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund ($WSJ)

U.K. steel makers seek another bailout ($FT)

China/Australia discuss end of coal boycott ($BBG)

¹ Failure of coal and gas-fired generators to start up when instructed by the grid because of instrument and equipment freezes has been a recurrent problem and major cause of power failures during extreme cold weather episodes in the last several decades. Failure to start has meant actual generation available has been much lower than forecast, reducing reserve margins and forcing rotating blackouts to restore margins to safe levels.

THE FUNDAMENTALS of commodity trading have not changed in 2500 years, illustrated by this quote about China’s commodity merchants taken from the Guan Zi, which purports to be a dialogue between Lord Huan of Qi and his powerful chief minister Guan Zhong in the Spring and Autumnperiod (771-481 BCE) but probably a compilation of traditional knowledge written during the Warring States period (481-221 BCE):

“Merchants observe outbreaks of dearth and starvation, scrutinize changes in the fortunes of states, study the patterns of the four seasons, and take notice of what goods are produced in each place. With this knowledge of prices in the marketplace, they gather up their stock of goods, load them on oxcarts and horses, and circulate throughout the four directions. Having reckoned what is abundant and what is scarce and calculated what is precious and what is worthless, they exchange what they possess for what they lack, buying cheap and selling dear … Marvellous and fantastic things arrive in timely fashion; rare and unusual goods readily gather. Day and night thus engaged, merchants tutor their sons and brothers, speaking the language of profit, teaching them the virtue of timeliness, and training them how to recognise the value of goods.”

Guan Zi: Political, Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early China (Rickett, 1985) cited in The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century (von Glahn, 2016)

EUROPE’s gas prices are falling and the futures curve has shifted into contango as inventories remain very high for the time of year and traders no longer anticipate any risk of a shortage before the end of winter 2022/23. The end-of-winter March-April 2023 calendar spread is trading in a contango of more than €1.20/MWh down from a backwardation of €9.70 at the end of September:

Best in Energy – 6 December 2022

Renewables deployment accelerated by energy crisis

North Carolina substations in sophisticated sabotage

Oil tankers in queue to transit Turkish straits ($FT)

France prepares for tight power supplies next week

New England grid outlines winter reliability plan

EU retail sales fall with economy in recession ($WSJ)

EU plan for gas price cap distracts from real problem

U.S. jet fuel consumption below pre-pandemic level

BRENT’s six-month calendar spread has collapsed to a backwardation of just 67 cents per barrel (54th percentile for all trading days since 1990) from $8 (98th percentile) at the start of November. Month-to-month spreads are flat through April 2023. Traders anticipate crude supplies will remain comfortable through the first few months of next year because: (a) the EU/G7 price cap on Russia’s exports was set at a relatively high level; (b) policymakers have signalled a relaxed approach to enforcement (c) refiners have boosted purchases and inventories ahead of the price cap’s introduction; and (d) the slowing global economy is expected to dampen oil consumption:

Best in Energy –  24 October 2022

Russia oil exports will be able to evade price cap

Russia’s nuclear forces – command and control

China boosts diesel and jet exports in September

U.S. shale producers disregard SPR refill offer

U.S. oil firms reluctant to increase output ($WSJ)

Southern California’s port backlog clears ($WSJ)

Schlumberger rebrands itself as SLB

U.S. SPR used more actively ($FT)

U.S. gas flows in 2021 (Sankey diagram)

Venezuela’s opposition seeks deal ($FT)

UN climate talks lose momentum ($BBG)

EUROZONE manufacturers report the sector has entered recession, based on preliminary results from the monthly purchasing managers survey. Partial results show the manufacturing activity index slipped to just 46.6 in October (14th percentile for all months since 2006) from 48.4 in September (24th percentile):

EUROPE’s temperatures are expected to be at or above the long-term seasonal average during the three months from November to January, according to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting. Mild temperatures through October and the relatively warm outlook for the first part of the winter have contributed to downward pressure on the region’s gas futures prices:

Best in Energy – 9 June 2022

Freeport LNG explosion to shut facility for at least 3 weeks

OPEC spare capacity set to fall to lowest for over a decade

Battery shortages hinder wind and solar grid integration

Asia’s jet fuel refining margins hit record high

U.S. PETROLEUM inventories increased by +4 million bbl to 1,685 million bbl last week. The one-week increase was the largest so far this year. But stocks are still at the lowest seasonal level since 2008:

Best in Energy – 12 May 2022

South Africa’s coal and a just energy transition

U.K. economy on the cusp of a recession

U.S. East Coast hit by local jet fuel shortage

U.S. West Coast ports start pay talks ($WSJ)

China’s top leaders jockey for position ($WSJ)

China calls for elderly to get vaccinated (trans.)

U.K. REAL GDP declined in both February and March, a sign growth was stalling even before the rise in utility prices and payroll taxes took effect in April:

TEXAS power consumption has surged to a near-record as the state is hit by a sustained period of much higher than normal temperatures for the time of year:

U.S. PETROLEUM inventories increased by +3 million bbl to 1,699 million bbl last week (SPR crude  -7 million; commercial crude  +8 million; gasoline  -4 million; distillate  -1 million; and jet  +2 million):

U.S. DISTILLATE inventories fell -1 million bbl to 104 million bbl. Distillate availability shows no improvement but it is not deteriorating either at present:

U.S. GASOLINE inventories depleted by -4 million bbl to 225 million bbl last week, the lowest for the time of year since 2014, as distillate shortages bleed across into gasoline:

Best in Energy – 11 May 2022

India’s railways struggle to transport enough coal

India relaxes coal mine environmental rules ($BBG)

Ukraine cuts Russian pipeline gas flows to Europe

Global mining is central to future energy system

BlackRock updates energy-climate investor principles

Germany plans for disruption of Russian gas supply

U.S. ammonia prices increase with global gas prices

Nigeria subsidises fuel to keep aircraft flying ($BBG)

China forecasts record rain along south coast (trans.)

China issues flood warnings along the Yangtze (trans.)

China hydro generation rises on heavy rains ($BBG)

U.K. threatens energy majors with windfall tax ($FT)

U.S. inflation – how prices are really measured ($WSJ)

CHINA generated a record 221 TWh of hydro electricity in the first three months of the year, up from 196 TWh in the same period in 2021, relieving pressure on coal and gas inventories and prices:

U.S. EQUITY PRICES signal investors expect an imminent business cyclical slowdown – either a mid-cycle soft patch or an end-of-cycle recession. The S&P 500 index is down by almost 5% compared with the end of May 2021 and down by more than 11% in real terms:

Best in Energy – 13 April 2022

WTI’s negative price – inside story ($BBG)

India faces coal and electricity shortage

OPEC/IEA tensions break into the open

OPEC reduces oil consumption forecast

German economists downgrade outlook

CNOOC to exit U.S./U.K./Canada assets

India’s refiners buy Russian oil ($BBG)

Jet fuel supplies are tightening ($BBG)

Energy crisis ousts climate policy ($FT)

U.S. petroleum product exports in 2021

U.S CONSUMER PRICES are increasing between two and four times faster than the central bank’s target of a little over 2%. Core prices for items other than food and energy have increased at a compound annual rate of 4.0% over the last two years and were advancing at an annualised rate of 5.8% in the three months from December to March. Services prices, which are normally more stable but also more labour-intensive, increased at a compound rate of 3.4% over the last two years and were rising at an annualised rate 7.1% between December and March. The rapidly rising cost of energy, raw materials, manufactured products, freight and labour is becoming more deeply entrenched in the rest of the economy:

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Best in Energy – 7 April 2022

EU proposes ban on Russian coal from August

China/Australia coal ban as awkward precedent

IEA countries to release further 60 million bbl

Russia/China switch payments to yuan ($BBG)

Shell writes off $5 billion for exit from Russia

Shanghai quarantine facilities expand (trans.)

U.S. ethane consumption is growing

U.S. jet fuel supplies tighten ($BBG)

U.S. PETROLEUM inventories including the SPR rose by +1 million bbl last week – the first increase for 13 weeks and the first increase this year:

U.S. DISTILLATE inventories have risen by a total of +2 million bbl over the two most recent weeks after declining in 9 of the 10 previous weeks by -17 million bbl, as exceptionally high fuel prices incentivise more production and discourage consumption:

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Best in Energy –4 April 2022

[MUST READ] Sanctions and a long conflict

[MUST READ] Wars and settlements ($BBG)

SPR sale – formal announcement and details

France’s electricity grid calls for conservation

China to buy Russia LNG via middlemen ($BBG)

Australia’s export earnings boosted by conflict

EU/Russia standoff over gas payments

U.S. jet fuel prices surge on East Coast

Aviation recovery at risk from fuel prices ($FT)

Sri Lanka leader imposes state of emergency

United Kingdom takes Russian diesel delivery

U.S. MANUFACTURERS reported a less-widespread increase in business activity last month. The ISM composite index fell to 57.1 in March from 58.6 in February and the lowest reading since Sep 2020 as the expansion decelerates. There was also a sharp deceleration in new orders growth in March. The ISM new orders index slipped to 53.8 from 61.7 the month before, consistent with a slowdown in the business cycle ahead:

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